Recommended Posts

So I noticed there was another thread going around - Dubbed vs Subbed. So this is a more specific question directed at you those who like to watch their anime with subtitles! Do you prefer Soft Subs or Hard Subs?

The difference being Soft Subs are basically layed over the top of the video. You can turn if on or off, and if you have the right programs you can even edit them. Another good thing is that the video is left untouched, so if there are any errors in the translations that can easily be worked out. - down side, since they're not part of the video they tend to be more demanding from your computer and video player. Also If you have the right program you can edit the size/colour.

Hard Subs on the other hand are embed into the actual video. You can't change them, you can't edit them, you can't take them off. This means that if there is an error in the translation, or a typo, that's staying on the video for good. And because they're embed into the actual video, they don't take much more room than the raw would.

Most Subbers tend to hard sub the OP/ED for the cool effects, and then release a Creditless / subtitless OP/ED. This includes some Soft-Subbers too, because there are times wehere the OP/EDs are Hard Subbed even if the rest is Soft.

I personally prefer Hard Subs if they're done well, but I don't blog or anything so I don't really need to turn the subs off, haha. Since becoming enlightened, I don't really mind either way.

Anyway - What do you prefer, Soft Subs or Hard Subs?

Edited February 10, 2013 by Breathless

1

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Soft-subs can do absolutely everything you could do with hardsubs. Only some of the more advanced special effects can be pretty demanding of your subtitle renderer and cpu. However still gives the ability to turn subs off and on, and subsequently makes the fansub available for syncing the dub to if/when one is done.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Always prefer Soft Sub. I've yet to find something that my desktop can't run. Also my laptop (which is grossly under powered) can run soft subs fine. I can find hard subs annoying when I'm watching something in low resolution. The subs will be in the same resolution too so it'll look blurry in full screen. Soft subs adjust to whatever you want them to be.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Since I don't watch a whole lot of anime (I've watched about four short complete series in my life and a smattering of movies, mostly ones already released in the US), I don't have any real preference.

However, if I'm watching something with subtitles, I don't need any fancy stuff going on with and for the most part prefer that nothing fancy is happening with the text so I can read quickly and go back to the scene. Space isn't a major factor for me because, again, I don't watch a lot of anime and I delete whatever I downloaded after I've watched it. And I watch TV with subtitles, so being able to turn them off isn't a big deal because I won't, haha.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Aaaah. My google abilities have failed me! In which case, Why would anyone use Hardsubs then? I mean, I guess it stops other people from ripping your subs, but does anyone even do that?

Some people want to play it on specific devices like iPads, iPods, PS3, XBOX 360, PSP, etc.. which hard-subbed mp4's work better on. Soft-subs are usually in a mkv container which most devices still don't properly support. Then there are a few fansub groups that just prefer people not be able to edit or take their work so they hardsub.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Soft subs are definitely the general preference. Even though they are more demanding, most machines these days can handle them quite well. Heck, even my tablet is able to handle soft subs along with styling them. If you're wanting to play something on an iPod/PS3/etc, hardsubs can be useful, but there's always the option to burn the subs into the file with something like Handbrake.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

For me it would have to be Soft-Sub, because I have a couple of Animes that I downloaded recently and I'm most definite that they are Hard-Subbed, and they are terrible. Here is an example (which I'm sure is hard-Subbed), during the opening song that they have they will have the subtitles because it is being sung in Japanese, but there are subs over subs, like you can see the layers and it's just horrible. Plus some of the subs will be cut off, not off the screen, but cut off to where you can't read like two or three words. It's quite sad, I really don't know if it's because the encoder (if they even do it?) is bad at what he's/she's doing or when putting it all together it just gets scrambled up and looks WAY bad. I mean the way it seems from how bad it is, it honestly could be a Fan made subs or something...

So all in all, Soft-Sub I prefer. But usually you won't see Soft-Sub anyway on the opening songs and such, but still... I don't know what it is, but some are just bad as I mentioned above.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Aaaah. My google abilities have failed me! In which case, Why would anyone use Hardsubs then? I mean, I guess it stops other people from ripping your subs, but does anyone even do that?

Some people want to play it on specific devices like iPads, iPods, PS3, XBOX 360, PSP, etc.. which hard-subbed mp4's work better on. Soft-subs are usually in a mkv container which most devices still don't properly support. Then there are a few fansub groups that just prefer people not be able to edit or take their work so they hardsub.

This.

Fwiw, a lot of conversion programs cut out softsubs if you don't know what you're doing (which is why I mux and transcode whenever I need a MKV on PS3). That would certainly be another con on softsubs though.

Edited March 17, 2013 by lkplkplkp3

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

softsubs deffinately because hardsubs butcher the video and cant be turned off, whats more is i personally love customizing everything i come across so i cant change the font or anything if its embedded into the video

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Aaaah. My google abilities have failed me! In which case, Why would anyone use Hardsubs then? I mean, I guess it stops other people from ripping your subs, but does anyone even do that?

Some people want to play it on specific devices like iPads, iPods, PS3, XBOX 360, PSP, etc.. which hard-subbed mp4's work better on. Soft-subs are usually in a mkv container which most devices still don't properly support. Then there are a few fansub groups that just prefer people not be able to edit or take their work so they hardsub.

I agree with this statement. I own an iPad myself so whenever I'm going places or watching anime late at night, I have the subtitles burned in to the video. When I'm in my laptop during the day it's almost always usually softsubs. I really don't have a preference though, so as long as I get my subtitles.

Recently Browsing
0 members

Similar Content

Cartoons often have pretty messed up episode orders, especially older ones (though there are still a few even nowadays that have ordering problems). When you start binge-watching a completed cartoon, which order do you prefer to watch episodes in? Please answer in the poll, but if you have some other kind of order you watch episodes in, feel free to select "Other" and voice it in a reply. Also, I've never done this sort of thing before, so I'm not sure if I can do this text and the poll all in one post, but it's worth a shot. If there's no poll, just reply, I guess.

I myself am a die-hard "Official Wikipedia Order" kind of person. I find that I avoid continuity errors that way. (If any such continuity exists in the first place, that is.) It also makes sure I see episodes that I might otherwise miss for some reason.

Both characters and plot are important elements in a story. However, it is difficult to say which is a more important element. There are numerous examples of successful character and plot driven media, but the question is, which do you prefer?

I'm definitely a Night person. I have a hard time going to sleep so I stay up till I feel tired enough to sleep; it's usually around 5 am. xD And then I wake up around noon or later. O.o How about you?

What is your favorite web browser, and which do you believe is the best of the best?

I've only used Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Internet Explorer is very buggy. It doesn't display correctly alot of the time as it was designed basically to make n00b coders incorrectly coded sites display fine, therefore alot of correctly coded sites are altered. Internet Explorer is also the least secure web browser and is the biggest target for ad ware and spy ware.

On the other hand Fire Fox is one of the #1 recommended browsers by many people, as well as it has won several awards for best browser. Most webmasters use it, and recommend it over all others, and it has alot of helpful plug ins. However at first Firefox can be a bit slow and not run very well, but you can fix that by going into the configurations and changing a couple things. Or at least it was that way on earlier versions.

So I believe Fire Fox is the best.

[Added tags, yo. Also made the poll show up because it wasn't showing for me. - EO]